This invention was the subject matter of Disclosure Document Program Regisration No. 159556 filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Nov. 19, 1986.
As all parents are well aware, two of the most vexing problems associated with child care involve: the constant need to provide a stimulating environment for the child; and, also the need to supervise the child's activities such that the child will not play with common household articles that are not toys, and which at best have the potential to cause annoyance to the parents, and at worst have the potential to inflict serious if not lethal bodily harm to the child.
It is widely accepted that all children try to emulate their parent's actions as part of their natural development. This mimicing pattern unfortunately does not end with the copying of inflections of speech and other physical mannerisms; but, extends to other areas wherein the child feels compelled to at least attempt to duplicate tasks and operate household implements that he observes his parents handling in a routine manner.
While the basic operation of most household implements is initially far beyond the capabilities of the vast majority of children; and, even those children who are adept enough to operate these implements do not have the necessary degree of wisdom, experience or common sense to do so wisely and safely.
Eventually children will learn how to properly handle these diverse implements and appliances through continued exposure and trial and error manipulation of the actuating mechanisms. However, until such time as they become proficient or adept at operating these devices, both the child and the device remain at risk.
While most children's amusement apparatus are intended to both educate and amuse a child, they also function to distract a child's attention away from the potentially hazardous items commonly found in a typical household such as electrical outlets, light switches or free standing lamps and the like. In practice; however, this distraction is temporary at best, and a child's curiosity will ultimately cause him to investigate and experiment at his risk. Examples of some of the aforementioned children's amusement apparatus may be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,568,357; 2,416,959; 3,538,620; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 187,218.
While the foregoing patented structures are more than adequate for their limited purposes, they are also deficient in a number of respects in that: while they employ simumlation of some articles, implements, and objects that the child will use on an everyday basis as he grows older; they do not present a realistic environment wherein a child can actually learn the basic and safe methods emmployed in the operation of a wide variety of these objects using scaled down versions and actual components of the objects in question. Obviously there has been a long felt need for a children's amusement apparatus that not only provided entertainment for the child; but, also provided a safe and practical means to allow the child to experiment and learn about the workings and proper operations of everyday objects.